Appeals Court Says California Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday declaredCalifornia's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, puttingthe bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for a likelyappeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealsruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S.Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 - a response to an earlier state court decisionthat legalized gay marriage - was a violation of the civil rightsof gays and lesbians.

However, the appeals court said gay marriages cannot resume inthe state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors toappeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal isfiled, gay marriages will remain on hold until it's resolved."Although the Constitution permits communities to enact mostlaws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be atleast a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treatsdifferent classes of people differently. There was no such reasonthat Proposition 8 could have been enacted," the ruling states.Backers of Proposition 8 said they would ask the Supreme Courtto overturn the 9th Circuit ruling.

"No court should presume to redefine marriage. No court shouldundercut the democratic process by taking the power to preservemarriage out of the hands of the people," said Brian Raum, seniorcounsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal aid groupbased in Arizona that helped defend Proposition 8.

"We are not surprised that this Hollywood-orchestrated attackon marriage - tried in San Francisco - turned out this way. But weare confident that the expressed will of the American people infavor of marriage will be upheld at the Supreme Court," he said.American Foundation for Equal Rights President Chad Griffin, whoformed the group along with director Rob Reiner to wage the courtfight against Proposition 8, called the panel's ruling "a historicvictory."

"The message it sends to young LGBT people, not only here inCalifornia but across the country, (is) that you can't strip away afundamental right, and gay marriage is a fundamental right that noone can strip away," Griffin said. "Now that Proposition 8 hasbeen declared unconstitutional, the people of California will verysoon be able to once again realize their freedom to marry."More than 50 people who gathered outside the federal courthousein downtown San Francisco greeted the ruling with cheers. They heldsigns and waved rainbow flags.

"Today's ruling is a victory for fairness, a victory forequality and a victory for justice," said California AttorneyGeneral Kamala Harris.

The appeals panel crafted a narrow decision that applies only toCalifornia, even though the court has jurisdiction in nine westernstates. California is the only one of those states where theability for gays to marry was granted then rescinded.

"Whether under the Constitution same-sex couples may ever bedenied the right to marry, a right that has long been enjoyed byopposite-sex couples, is an important and highly controversialquestion," the court said. "We need not and do not answer thebroader question in this case."

The panel also said there was no evidence that former Chief U.S.Judge Vaughn Walker was biased and should have disclosed before he issued his decision that he was gay and in a long-term relationship with another man.

The ruling came more than a year after the appeals court heardarguments in the case.

Proposition 8 backers had asked the 9th Circuit to set asideWalker's ruling on both constitutional grounds and because of thethorny issue of the judge's personal life. It was the firstinstance of an American jurist's sexual orientation being cited asgrounds for overturning a court decision.

Walker publicly revealed he was gay after he retired. However,supporters of the gay marriage ban argued that he had been obligedto previously reveal if he wanted to marry his partner - like thegay couples who sued to overturn the ban.

Walker's successor as the chief federal judge in NorthernCalifornia, James Ware, rejected those claims, and the 9th Circuitheld a hearing on the conflict-of-interest question in December.California voters passed Proposition 8 with 52 percent of thevote in November 2008, five months after the state Supreme Courtlegalized same-sex marriage by striking down a pair of laws thathad limited marriage to a man and a woman.

The ballot measure inserted the one man-one woman provision intothe California Constitution, thereby overruling the court'sdecision. It was the first such ban to take away marriage rightsfrom same-sex couples after they had already secured them and itspassage followed the most expensive campaign on a social issue inthe nation's history.

The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law, athink tank based at the University of California, Los Angeles, hasestimated that 18,000 couples tied the knot during the four-monthwindow before Proposition 8 took effect. The California SupremeCourt upheld those marriages, but ruled that voters had properlyenacted the law.

With same-sex marriages unlikely to resume in California anytime soon, Love Honor Cherish, a gay rights group based in LosAngeles, plans to start gathering signatures for a November ballotinitiative asking voters to repeal Proposition 8.

Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.